Human Rights Watch

(Abuja) – Nigerian authorities should urgently strengthen security in vulnerable communities following deadly attacks on June 14, 2025, in Yelewata, Benue state, Human Rights Watch said today. This should include steps to ensure collaboration with members of affected communities to establish an effective rapid security response system to prevent further violence and protect lives at risk.

On the night of June 14, unidentified armed assailants suspected to be tied to herder communities brutally attacked Yelewata community in Benue state, killing 59 people, according to the state governor. However, media reports citing detailed lists of victims put the death toll at over 100.

“This brutal attack is the latest reminder of how badly the government has failed to protect communities from violence and secure accountability,” said Anietie Ewang, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should move quickly and effectively to investigate this attack.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed three people, including one journalist who visited Yelewata in the aftermath of the attack.

Benue is among Nigeria’s North Central states plagued by recurring intercommunal violence, largely driven by longstanding tensions between nomadic herders and mostly sedentary farming communities over access to and control of land, water, and other natural resources.

In May, 42 people were killed in a series of attacks across Benue state, according to media reports. In April, 56 were reportedly killed by herders during the Easter period. Despite these alarming figures, there is little evidence of meaningful efforts toward justice. Nobody has been arrested or prosecuted for these attacks.

In a 2013 report, “‘Leave Everything to God’: Accountability for Inter-Communal Violence in Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria,” Human Rights Watch analyzed the decades-long cycles of violence in two North Central states, Kaduna and Plateau, which persisted largely due to the government’s failure to hold attackers accountable. More than a decade later, the continued bloodshed—most recently the attack in Yelewata—underscores the urgent need to end this pattern of impunity.

Reverend Father Yugh, a priest and archivist at the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, the capital of Benue state, told Human Rights Watch that he has tracked violence in the state for many years and that security forces consistently fail to respond effectively, leaving the situation dire.

Based on media reports, attackers arrived in Yelewata just before midnight, armed with sophisticated weapons, and laid siege to the community for over two hours with little or no resistance from security forces. The authorities, however, claim that police officers, tactical teams, and reinforcements responded swiftly and killed some of attackers.

A 34-year-old man, Godwin Amatembe, said his sister and three of her children were killed when the assailants set fire to their one-room home using petrol. Amatembe’s nephew who escaped the attack told him that the family was asleep, and when they tried to escape the blaze, the assailants fired on them. The nephew managed to flee despite being shot in the back, but the attackers dragged his wounded mother back into the house, where she burned to death with the three other children.

“I am weak, I am broken, and my heart is bleeding,” Amatembe said. “How could my sister and her innocent children, who were just struggling to survive, be wiped out in such a brutal way?”

Based on media reports, some of the people killed in the attack were internally displaced people who had fled to Yelewata from their communities due to insecurity, only to be brutally killed in the very place they had hoped would offer them safety.

The Yelewata attack sparked protests in Benue state on June 15, with calls for an end to the killings and for justice and accountability. The authorities dispersed the protests, which they claimed had been hijacked by violent instigators.

The military and police authorities have announced a joint operation to pursue those responsible for the killings. As President Bola Tinubu engages with affected communities and stakeholders during his announced visit on June 18, he should prioritize regular consultations with local communities to establish a rapid security response system to detect and deter impending attacks and prevent further bloodshed. Without swift and coordinated action, the human toll of the seemingly endless cycles of violence will continue unabated.

“The way forward should begin with coordination of state policing and intelligence operations, as well as community-driven security initiatives that can respond rapidly to threats,” Ewang said. “But protection alone is not enough. There must also be justice for the victims of these attacks and accountability for the perpetrators of massacres.”

Click to expand Image Displaced people board a bus after undergoing checks at the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, in Goma, May 19, 2025. United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) vehicles transported them to Rwanda.  © 2025 JOSPIN MWISHA/AFP via Getty Images

(Nairobi) – The Rwandan-controlled M23 armed group has deported over 1,500 people from occupied eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to Rwanda in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Human Rights Watch said today. The Rwandan government and the M23 should immediately stop forced transfers of Congolese citizens and Rwandan refugees, which are war crimes.

Rwanda’s military, logistical, and other support to the M23 was critical for its capture of Goma and Bukavu, the provincial capitals of North and South Kivu respectively, from Congolese forces in early 2025. In February, the M23 ordered several hundred thousand people to leave displacement camps around Goma and dismantled virtually all the camps. In May, the M23 rounded up and transferred previously displaced people to Goma, where many were unlawfully deported to Rwanda with the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The forcible transfer of civilians to Rwanda, whether Congolese citizens or Rwandan refugees, is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Rwanda’s control over the M23 in eastern Congo makes it ultimately responsible for the armed group’s numerous abuses.”

Rwanda’s effective control over parts of eastern Congo through its own armed forces and the M23 appears to meet the international humanitarian law standards for a belligerent occupation. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits, as a war crime, forcible transfers within a country and deportations from occupied territory to other countries, regardless of the motive. On June 9, 2025, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Rwandan authorities with its findings but has not received a response.

Human Rights Watch from February to May interviewed 14 people who were forced to leave displacement camps near Goma after the M23 ordered them dismantled, including 8 people who were forcibly transferred to Goma in May.

On May 12, the M23 rounded up as many as 2,000 people from the town of Sake, 25 kilometers west of Goma, and forcibly transferred them to Goma, where many were then deported to Rwanda. This appeared to be part of a broader M23 operation against suspected members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, or FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose leaders took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Many of those in Sake were originally from Karenga, in Masisi territory, which is considered an FDLR stronghold.

Click to expand Image Map of the chronology of the displacement of civilians between Karenga and surrounding villages, Sake, Goma, and Rwanda. Graphic © 2025 Human Rights Watch.

M23 officials used the Lake Kivu Christian Center (Centre Chrétien du Lac Kivu or CCLK) transit center, named after its location in Goma, to deport people to Rwanda. Between May 17 and 19, 2025, several convoys departed from the transit center to Rwanda. UNHCR usually uses the transit center for voluntary refugee repatriations to Rwanda. However, eight people at the center said that both Congolese citizens and Rwandan refugees were among those being deported against their will. Many expressed fear that they would face abuse in Rwanda. The M23 deployed forces around the facility to prevent people from escaping.

Some of the people deported spoke to the media to criticize the manner in which they were forcibly transferred to Rwanda. The Rwandan authorities have long targeted those who have criticized the government publicly, including refugees and asylum seekers under UNHCR protection. UNHCR should take steps to protect the safety of those deported to Rwanda. Human Rights Watch has not been able to communicate with any of those deported from the transit center since their deportation to Rwanda.

UNHCR wrote to Human Rights Watch on May 27 that “1,600 [Rwandan refugees] were brought to the CCLK transit center in Goma as a result of cordon and search exercises conducted by the de facto authorities,” that UNHCR’s screening was “done under pressure,” and that for this group, returning to Rwanda “was the only available option.” 

Under the Geneva Conventions, the transfer or deportation needs to be “forcible” to constitute a war crime. Consent to be moved has to be voluntary and not given under coercive conditions. A transfer is not voluntary when people agree or seek to be transferred as the only means to escape risk of abuse if they remain.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor has announced that his office would renew investigative efforts in Congo with a focus on crimes in North Kivu since January 2022. The court can prosecute the war crime of “the deportation or transfer [by the Occupying Power] of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory,” as well as the crime against humanity of “deportation or forcible transfer of population.” 

“The Rwandan government and the M23 are committing war crimes by forcibly transferring and deporting people within occupied territory and to Rwanda,” de Montjoye said. “Concerted international pressure is needed on Rwanda to immediately end the deportations, ensure the security of everyone in occupied areas, and hold those responsible for abuses to account.”

For additional details on the deportations, please see below. 

The People Transferred

Since the resurgence of the M23 in late 2021, Congolese and Rwandan armed forces, along with the armed groups they support, have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in North and South Kivu, often multiple times over prolonged periods. Combatants have forced civilians from their homes and lands, looted their property, and punished them for suspected collaboration with enemy groups. Many of the internally displaced people who were living in camps around Goma before the M23 captured the city had fled abuses from both sides, including killings, rape, burning of property, pillaging, and forced recruitment and labor.

On February 24, 2025, in Karenga, a local chief accompanied by armed M23 fighters told people originally from Karenga, Tuonane, and Mugando, near Virunga National Park, that they had to leave by the following day. Many then sought shelter in schools and other locations in nearby Sake. 

“They chased us from Karenga saying those who refuse [to leave] will ‘get a bullet,’” said a 25-year-old woman Human Rights Watch interviewed. A man, 36, said that the chief “told us that those who need an explanation should go to Kitchanga [a strategic town under M23 control] to ask the authorities there. He also said the Red Cross will collect the body of anyone who is found in the village after the deadline.”

Many of the displaced people interviewed who returned to Karenga in February had fled ahead of the M23’s capture of the area in November 2023. The M23 provided no reason for expelling the population, although some sources thought the decision was related to suspected FDLR members in the area. Interviewees said that although some of the people formerly displaced from Karenga were of Rwandan origin, many were Congolese citizens or had lived in Congo their entire lives.

Of the people forcibly moved from Sake on May 12, 2025, the M23 transferred some of the men, and later their relatives, to the Stade de l’Unité (Unity Stadium) in Goma. The M23’s military spokesperson, Willy Ngoma, presented 181 men at the stadium to the media, calling them “Rwandan subjects,” even though they had Congolese documents. Witnesses said the M23 burned people’s Congolese electoral cards, the main form of identification in Congo, and told people perceived to be of Rwandan origin to return to Rwanda. 

Congolese citizenship is difficult to establish due to the absence of a functioning national ID system and decades of cross-border population movements, driven by both conflict and economic opportunities, between Congo and Rwanda. The voter’s card is the only documentation available to many people, if they are registered and of voting age. At the stadium, the M23 accused people of having “falsified” cards, effectively rejecting their Congolese citizenship, based on media reports and witness accounts.

The M23 has accused suspected opponents, often without basis, of supporting the FDLR. Witnesses said that on May 12 in Sake, the M23 took away at least five young men suspected of being FDLR members. At the stadium, the M23 also sought to separate those perceived to support the Congolese army or its allies: “Those who were identified as members of FDLR or Wazalendo [pro-Congolese government coalition of armed groups] were put on a bus, and we don’t know where they went,” said a man who had been at the stadium.

Deportations from the Transit Center

People marked for deportation were transferred to the CCLK transit center, which the Congolese National Commission for Refugees (Commission Nationale pour les Réfugiés) and UNHCR use for Rwandan refugee repatriations under the 2010 tripartite agreement on voluntary returns between UNHCR, Rwanda, and Congo. 

The tripartite agreement sets the conditions for the voluntary return of Congolese refugees in Rwanda and Rwandan refugees in Congo. Under UNHCR guidelines, refugees and asylum seekers do not need to state explicitly that they are being forced back for UNHCR to conclude that their repatriation is involuntary. 

UNHCR noted in its response to Human Rights Watch that refugee repatriations “must be voluntary, safe, and carried out in dignity” to comply with the principle of nonrefoulement: the international legal prohibition against returning people to risks of persecution, torture, or other serious harm.

But people at the center said that even though UNHCR agents interviewed them about their origins, UNHCR did not give them a choice about being sent to Rwanda. A Congolese woman said: “[UNHCR] does what they want with us. We don’t have a choice.”

UNHCR issued a statement on May 22, 2025, saying it was monitoring and involved in “the evolving situation concerning the group of individuals” at the transit center as well as “more than 1,700 refugees” returned to Rwanda. However, Human Rights Watch interviews indicate that some people forcibly taken to the center and then deported to Rwanda were not registered Rwandan refugees.

Three Congolese citizens said that on May 27, UNHCR transported 74 people, mostly women and children, back to Sake after confirming that they were Congolese nationals. They said some Congolese at the transit center were not able to prove their identity because the M23 had burned their documents and that these people were later forcibly transferred to Rwanda. “There are people I know from Karenga who are Congolese and were sent to Rwanda,” said one man who was transferred back to Sake. “Others accepted to go because they were afraid of the M23. The M23 burned my voter card.… I can’t leave Sake now. If I get stopped, I’ll be accused of being FDLR.”

On May 17, Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister claimed that the repatriated refugees were formerly held hostage by the FDLR, apparently attempting to justify the deportations. Congo’s Interior Ministry disputed this assertion. 

Rwanda’s Occupation of Eastern Congo

Rwanda’s deployment of up to 9,000 troops in eastern Congo at the height of the M23’s offensive in January and February and its apparent overall control of the M23, the de facto authorities, indicates that Rwanda is an occupying power under international humanitarian law. Witnesses to incidents, media reports, and UN and military sources have said that Rwandan military personnel have directed and led operations during offensives, including those that captured Goma and Bukavu. 

Military sources said that several hundred Rwandan troops, operating modern weaponry such as armored drones and GPS-guided mortars, led the advance on Goma. Rwandan soldiers have also commanded patrols in Masisi and Rutshuru territories. Rwandan military commanders have been present during the training of recruits in at least two training centers in Congo, former recruits told Human Rights Watch. Rwandan authorities have also coordinated a press visit to occupied territory in eastern Congo. In May, more than 10 journalists went on a press trip from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, to Goma, and to Masisi territory, organized and accompanied by staff of the Rwandan Office of the Government Spokesperson, according to four journalists and messages reviewed by Human Rights Watch.

Rwanda has also been involved in negotiating ceasefires and other actions on behalf of the M23. The M23’s capture of the town of Walikale in March forced Alphamin Resources at Bisie mine, a major tin mine that produces six percent of the global tin supply, to suspend its activities. Reuters reported that the United States directly engaged with the Rwandan and Congolese governments to secure guarantees of the M23’s withdrawal and that the Congolese forces would not attack to allow operations to resume. Alphamin Resources announced a resumption of operations after the M23 withdrew.

These actions by Rwandan forces, and the absence of Congolese authority in the area, would meet the international law standards for a belligerent occupation of parts of eastern Congo.

Occupation Under International Law

The international humanitarian law of occupation is primarily set out in the 1907 Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, and customary international humanitarian law.

Article 42 of the Hague Regulations states: “Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.”

The 2016 Commentary of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Common Article 2 to the Geneva Conventions sets out three requirements for a situation of belligerent occupation: the presence of foreign military forces without the consent of the sovereign state; the foreign military’s ability to exercise authority over the territory; and, the related inability of the sovereign state’s authorities to exert its control over the territory. These elements have been described in judicial cases, military manuals, and academic writings as the “effective control test” to determine whether a situation qualifies as an occupation for the purposes of international humanitarian law.

Under the effective control test, the occupying force largely controls the territory and can deploy troops as needed. These forces need not be present throughout the territory but must be able to exert authority as necessary. The sovereign state must be substantially incapable of exerting its authority because of the presence of foreign forces. However, the mere presence of national armed forces or armed groups opposing the foreign forces does not negate the occupation. 

In addition, effective control over a territory may be exercised by surrogate armed forces or nonstate armed groups so long as the occupying forces maintain overall control. Thus, a state would be an occupying power when it exercises overall control over de facto local authorities or armed groups that effectively control all or part of a territory. This indirect effective control aims to prevent a legal vacuum arising from a state using local surrogates to evade its obligations, including to provide for food and medical care to the population, under occupation law.

Click to expand Image A woman who was sexually assaulted in a displacement camp in North Kivu province, where she had fled fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, August 23, 2023.   © 2023 Moses Sawasawa/AP Photo

On Monday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk gave the chilling preliminary findings of his office’s Fact-Finding Mission into the devastating impact on civilians of the armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group captured Goma and Bukavu, the provincial capitals of North and South Kivu in early 2025, the Fact-Finding Mission has received information on the M23 carrying out extrajudicial executions, torture, raids on hospitals, abductions, and forced displacement and recruitment. They also received reports of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of alleged M23 supporters by Congolese military intelligence, and summary killings, arbitrary arrests, abductions, and extortion by the Wazalendo coalition of armed groups supported by the Congolese government.

Sexual violence, already occurring at an alarming rate, is being used “as a means of reprisal against communities, the relatives of perceived opponents, and people from other ethnic groups,” said Türk. “Nearly 40 percent of [sexual violence] survivors … are children.”

Many of these findings match our own. Human Rights Watch has documented the M23’s summary execution of at least 21 civilians in Goma in February. We have also reported on widespread abuses against civilians by the Wazalendo in South Kivu, including beatings, killings, and extortion, at times on an ethnic basis.

The UN Human Rights Council launched the human rights office’s Fact-Finding Mission in February, which is to be followed by an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate abuses committed by all parties to the conflict.

But Türk also announced on Monday that – due to the UN’s financial crisis – setting up the Commission of Inquiry would likely be delayed until 2026. This risks creating a protection gap, which would pose a major setback for desperately needed documentation of abuses in eastern Congo, particularly at a time when the M23 and other warring parties are increasingly repressing civil society groups and the media.

The commission’s mandate to collect and preserve evidence, to identify those responsible for grave abuses, and to support efforts to hold them accountable is a vital step towards ending impunity.

The UN’s unprecedented financial crisis is not just about abstract financial calculations: it will have a real impact on the lives of people at risk. As horrific crimes continue unabated in eastern Congo, robust investigations and accountability are needed now more than ever.

Click to expand Image Saudi human rights activists gather outside the Criminal Court of Riyadh following a hearing in the trial of fellow activists Abdullah al-Hamid and Mohammed al-Qahtani. Sulaiman al-Rashoodi (second from right), Mohammed al-Qahtani (third from right), Waleed Abu al-Khair (center, fourth from right) and Abdullah al-Hamid (fifth from right) © 2013 Private

(Beirut) – Saudi Arabia should end the mistreatment of older prisoners and ensure their access to adequate medical care, SANAD Organization for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch said today. Saudi authorities denied the United Nations Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons access to older prisoners, including two she had asked to see, during her April visit even though the government had invited her to visit the country.

Qasim al-Qathrdi, a 70-year-old Saudi academic and preacher, died in prison on April 29, 2025, during the visit, said SANAD, a Saudi organization. The group said he was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to eight years in prison followed by an eight-year travel ban on vague charges related to “disrupting public order.”

“Dr. al-Qathrdi’s death, the result of apparent deliberate medical neglect and the denial of release on bail despite his deteriorating health, is not an isolated incident,” said Samer Alshumrani, SANAD operations manager. “We are sounding the alarm over the danger facing older prisoners and we call on the Saudi authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and provide urgent and adequate medical care to all prisoners.”

The Saudi government invited the UN expert to visit the country from April 20 to 30, the UN said. During her visit to Saudi’s notorious al-Ha’ir prison, she requested access to clerics and the human rights defenders Safar Al-Hawali, 75, and Salman Al-Ouda, 69. Prison authorities rejected her request. Refusing access “violates the terms of reference for country visits” by UN experts, she said.

She urged the Saudi government to allow prisoners access to their families and to independent monitors. Prison authorities did not provide information on the number of older people in maximum-security wards but said that there are no older women prisoners, the UN expert said.

Separately, she expressed concern about the lack of remuneration for prisoners who work in al-Ha’ir and receive benefits like family visits in exchange for work. Prisoners have a right to family visits and the Saudi government should not use it as incentive, SANAD and Human Rights Watch said.

Rights organizations have long documented abysmal detention conditions in Saudi prisons, including ill-treatment and medical neglect. Older prisoners are particularly at risk as many cannot readily climb stairs, walk long distances to meals, or get dressed or use the bathroom without support.

Other older prominent thinkers, academics, and human rights defenders have also died in Saudi prisons, including Abdullah al-Hamid, 69, professor, political reformist, and cofounder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) who died on April 24, 2020; Musa al-Qarni, 67, political reformist who died on October 12, 2021; and Ahmed al-Amari, 69, cleric and former dean of the Quran Faculty in the Islamic University of Medina who died on January 20, 2019.

Other older clerics, human rights defenders, and academics who remain arbitrarily detained on charges based solely on peaceful activism include Safar Al-Hawali,75; Abdullah Al-Yahya, 73; Ibrahim Al-Nasser, 71; Salman Al-Ouda, 69; Zuhair Kutbi, 69; Awad Al-Qarni, 68; Mohammed Dulaim Al-Qahtani, 67; and Aida Al-Ghamdi, 67.

“Saudi Arabia should demonstrate genuine commitment to human rights ahead of hosting World Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup by immediately and unconditionally releasing all arbitrarily held human rights defenders, starting with older people whose health has deteriorated and are in need of urgent medical attention,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Click to expand Image An empty classroom in a secondary school in southern Senegal. © 2019 Elin Martinez/Human Rights Watch

(Abuja) – Most African governments have consistently failed to meet global and regional education funding targets to ensure quality public education, Human Rights Watch said today on the African Union’s Day of the African Child.

The 2025 theme for the day is “planning and budgeting for children’s rights: progress since 2010.” However, based on national data reported to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), only one-third of African countries met globally endorsed education funding benchmarks for annual average spending over the decade 2013 to 2023. The figure declined to just one quarter of countries by 2022 and 2023. Fourteen African countries did not meet any of the benchmarks a single year over the past decade. 

“African heads of state and governments and the African Union have all made bold commitments for national investment in education,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But governments are not translating those commitments into sustained funding, and many have actually reduced spending levels in recent years.”

Insufficient public spending on education undermines African governments’ legal obligations to guarantee free and compulsory quality primary education and make secondary education available, accessible, and free for every child. It also undermines their political commitments to AU and international development goals and benchmarks. Under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in addition to providing at least one year of pre-primary education, African governments are required to ensure that all children complete free secondary education by 2030.

In 2015, UNESCO member states, including all 54 African states, agreed to increase education spending to at least 4 to 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and/or at least 15 to 20 percent of total public expenditure. These internationally agreed funding benchmarks for education have been included in at least five global or AU-led declarations or action plans, including the 2015 Incheon Declaration, endorsed by all UNESCO member states; the Heads of State (“Kenyatta”) Declaration on Education Financing, endorsed by 17 African heads of state and governments and ministers; the 2021 Paris Declaration and “Global Call for Investing in the Futures of Education”; and the 2024 Fortaleza Declaration. In December 2024, the AU and African heads of state and governments expanded the upper end of the GDP benchmark from six to seven percent through the Nouakchott Declaration.

UNESCO member states have made additional commitments to invest at least 10 percent of education expenditures to guarantee at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education by 2030. In 2024, African countries agreed to ensure that an increased share of public funding is allocated to early childhood education.

Despite these obligations and global commitments, governments have failed to remove tuition and other school fees, particularly at the pre-primary and secondary level, leading to unequal access, retention, and poor quality in schools, with disproportionate impact on children from the poorest households. Families across Africa continue to shoulder an enormous burden in funding education, absorbing 27 percent of total education spending, according to World Bank 2021 data.

Africa has the highest out-of-school rates in the world, with over 100 million children and adolescents estimated to be out of school across all sub-regions except North Africa. Out-of-school rates have increased since 2015 for reasons including population increases, persistent gender gaps, the cumulative effects of Covid-19 school closures, climate emergencies, and conflicts.

Many children also drop out due to school-related gender-based violence, as well as discriminatory and exclusionary measures against pregnant and parenting girls, refugees, and children with disabilities, among other negative practices.

Only 14 countries guarantee free access to education, from at least one year of pre-primary through secondary education, based on available UNESCO data and Human Rights Watch research. Only 21 guarantee free access to 12 years of primary and secondary education, while 6 legally guarantee access to at least one year of free pre-primary education.

Human Rights Watch found that Morocco, excluding Western Sahara territory that it occupies, Namibia, and Sierra Leone are the only three African countries that both legally guarantee universally free access to primary and secondary education and at least one year of free pre-primary, and that have met both international education funding benchmarks in the last decade.

Many African countries continue to underinvest in public education to manage climate-related emergencies and conflict-related crises, but this is also due to political decisions and economic policies. Numerous African governments are applying regressive austerity measures to service debt interests and repayments. Fifteen are spending more on debt servicing than on education, leading to drastic cuts to teachers’ incomes, shortages of learning materials, and overcrowded classrooms. Creditor governments and institutions should consider debt restructuring or relief to ensure that debtor governments can adequately protect rights, including the right to education.

In a positive development, Sierra Leone currently co-leads an initiative at the UN Human Rights Council to develop a new optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with the aim of recognizing that every child has a right to early childhood care and education and guaranteeing that states make public pre-primary education and secondary education available and free to all. Botswana, Burundi, Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, and South Sudan have publicly expressed support for this process.

“African governments should urgently fulfill their pledges to guarantee universal access to free quality primary and secondary education,” Segun said. “Governments should focus on protecting public spending for education from regressive measures and cuts and allocate resources commensurate with their obligations to guarantee access to quality public education.”

Click to expand Image Climate activists protest to end use of fossil fuels at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, June 8, 2023. © 2023 Martin Meissner/AP Photo

As negotiators gather in Bonn for the mid-year United Nations climate talks, a key stepping-stone toward the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, governments have an important opportunity to place the fossil fuel phaseout at the heart of global climate action.

Despite the historic commitment at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, COP29 delivered no meaningful progress. Meanwhile, several governments are planning to increase fossil fuel production supported by ongoing subsidies. Fossil fuels remain the primary driver of the climate crisis, responsible for over 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Human Rights Watch has documented how communities living near coal, oil, and gas infrastructure bear the brunt of the health, environmental, and human rights harms caused by fossil fuel production.

The Bonn conference should lay the groundwork for the transition away from fossil fuels within a clear, time-bound framework. 

This year, countries are expected to submit updated national climate plans outlining how they will reduce emissions through 2035. Yet most countries have not submitted updated plans, and many of those submitted so far fall short of aligning with limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Governments should use the Bonn talks to commit to ambitious climate plans that set out concrete milestones, such as ending new fossil fuel exploration and licensing, phasing out government subsidies and ensuring adequate monitoring and accountability.

Bonn is also a moment to fill a serious gap. The COP28 commitment to transition away from fossil fuels has not yet been incorporated in the COP30 agenda. Brazil’s recent call for countries to show how they plan to implement the COP28 commitment should be followed by efforts to ensure this issue is front and center in Belém. As the COP30 host, Brazil has a responsibility to lead.

Governments meeting in Bonn should commit to ambitious national plans and a fossil fuel phaseout. Without bold action now, COP30 risks falling short on delivering a credible response to the climate crisis.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (bottom - C) and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen (bottom L) attend the vote to start the withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Budapest, Hungary, May 20, 2025. © 2025 Marton Monus/Reuters

(Brussels) – Hungary’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an insult to victims and survivors of the world’s worst crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

Hungarian authorities formally notified the United Nations secretary-general on June 2, 2025, that Hungary is withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, following a May 20 decision by the parliament. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced his government’s intention to leave the ICC on April 3, during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Budapest despite an ICC warrant against him for serious crimes in Gaza.

“After refusing to arrest Netanyahu, an ICC fugitive, when he visited the country, Hungary is now doubling down on impunity by leaving the court altogether,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “The European Union and ICC members should press Hungary to reconsider this decision given the court’s critical work across the globe.”

Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, including starving civilians, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, murder, and persecution. Human Rights Watch has documented war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide by Israeli authorities in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

ICC member countries have a legal obligation to arrest and surrender anyone sought by the court who is in their territory. ICC judges are currently assessing Hungary’s failure to arrest Netanyahu to make a legal determination on whether Hungary breached its obligation to cooperate with the court. Such a determination could then be transmitted to the ICC Assembly of States Parties for further action.

Hungary’s withdrawal will take effect one year after the notification to the UN secretary-general. Until then, Hungary remains bound by its ICC obligations, including executing the court’s arrest warrants. If Hungary’s withdrawal takes effect, it will become the third ICC member to leave the court. Burundi and the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2017 and 2019, respectively. It will also be the only non-ICC member state in the European Union.

The European Union and its member states have long been strong supporters of the ICC and have pledged to support the court’s independence and to ensure cooperation. Adherence to the values of the Rome Statute and its ratification are conditions to be fulfilled for new members to join the EU. Hungary’s withdrawal contradicts common EU objectives and values, Human Rights Watch said.

The Presidency of the ICC Assembly of States Parties expressed regret over Hungary’s withdrawal and, at the time of the announcement in April, reminded Hungary of its ongoing obligations under the Rome Statute. Hungarian international lawyers and civil society organizations also criticized the decision.

A number of EU countries condemned Hungary’s decision. Lithuania, Slovenia, Ireland, and Austria noted that the decision breaches fundamental values of the EU and its shared commitment to international justice, while Poland said that the decision weakens the court. Other EU countries and the European Commission reaffirmed their support for the court and reminded Hungary of its ongoing obligation to cooperate until the withdrawal takes effect.

The EU and its members should press Hungary to reconsider its decision, making clear that leaving the ICC puts Hungary at odds with the EU’s collective commitment to fight impunity for serious crimes and further isolates it from the rest of the EU, Human Rights Watch said.

The worsening situation for democracy and rights in Hungary has already led the European Parliament to initiate a political enforcement process in 2018 under article 7 of the EU Treaty over the risk of Hungary’s actions breaching fundamental EU values, including the rule of law.

The Commission and EU member states should evaluate whether Hungary’s decision to leave the ICC presents a further clear risk of serious breach of EU founding values, laws, and objectives. They should subsequently assess what further measures and action should be taken, including an infringement procedure, or consider including the withdrawal in the scope of the current procedure under article 7 of the EU Treaty.

The Commission has indicated that it “is in the process of analyzing Hungary’s announced withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the ICC in the light of the EU’s acquis,” the body of EU law including the content, principles, and political objectives enshrined in the EU Treaties.

Hungary’s move comes as the ICC is under extreme pressure from Israel and the United States, following the court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant in November 2024. On February 6, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order that authorizes asset freezes and entry bans on ICC officials and others supporting the court’s work, and imposed sanctions on the court’s prosecutor. On June 5, the US government designated four ICC judges for sanctions under the February order, citing their roles in the Palestine and Afghanistan investigations, which the US opposes.

US sanctions have serious effects that go far beyond the designated individuals and targeted investigations. They could result in the ICC losing access to essential services necessary to carry out its mandate around the world. Hungary’s foreign minister endorsed the Trump administration’s executive order, while most EU member states have condemned it in national and joint statements.

“As international justice and the rule of law are under attack globally, the EU cannot afford to remain passive in the face of one of its own member states' efforts to weaken the ICC,” Evenson said. “If Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC is not met with a firm response, the EU risks further undermining its credibility on the international stage and failing its own commitments to uphold the rule of law and advance justice for serious crimes globally.”

Click to expand Image Rohingya refugees attend a solidarity event with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the Bangladesh Interim Government, at the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 14, 2025. © 2025 Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Dawood is 19 years old and living in a crowded Rohingya refugee settlement in Bangladesh. He says his life is shattered. 

In February 2024, the Myanmar military conscripted Dawood and other Rohingya men and boys to fight the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group, in Rakhine State. They received little or no training, and dozens were killed or injured. Dawood spent a month in the hospital before being redeployed to the front lines. In May, with his unit besieged, he deserted, returning to his home village in Buthidaung township. 

Home provided no sanctuary from the fighting. Neither the military nor the Arakan Army cared much for protecting Rohingya civilians, and before long, Dawood and other villagers were on the move again, this time fleeing shelling and gunfire. Local observers estimate that hundreds are dead or missing. The Arakan Army corralled the survivors and detained about 80 men, including Dawood, whom they accused of being former Myanmar soldiers. He was able to escape, hiding in the forest before making the long and perilous journey to Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh was already home to a million Rohingya refugees who had fled Myanmar military atrocities, when Dawood and tens of thousands of others started arriving. The Bangladesh government said it was unable to support these new arrivals. “We are working very hard to make sure that we can repatriate those people,” Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government said recently, adding that US government funding cuts had depleted humanitarian assistance.

United Nations rights experts have been clear that Rohingya cannot safely return to Myanmar. The ongoing fighting is not their only threat, as the community remains at risk of ethnic persecution by both the Myanmar military, responsible for crimes against humanity and acts of genocide against the Rohingya, and the abusive Arakan Army, which now controls most of Rakhine State. 

In September, the UN will convene to discuss the future of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. But later this month, countries at the UN Human Rights Council will consider its annual resolution that highlights the dire situation facing the Rohingya. 

This resolution is a crucial opportunity for states to urge host countries to end any pushbacks and coerced returns. They should call for Myanmar’s junta to cease its abuses and permit humanitarian aid. Countries should strengthen and expand existing sanctions, particularly on arms transfers, jet fuel, and oil and gas revenues. Most crucially, countries should work to deliver justice and reparations for the abuses that Dawood, and refugees like him, have endured.

Click to expand Image Opposition supporters protest outside a court in Harare, Zimbabwe, June 27, 2024. © 2024 Aaron Ufumeli/AP Photo

On Wednesday, a High Court in Zimbabwe struck down provisions of the country’s Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, commonly referred to as the “Patriotic Act,” as unconstitutional. 

The Patriotic Act, which President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed into law in July 2023, contains overly broad provisions that make the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association a criminal offense.

The act created the crime of “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe,” which effectively criminalizes Zimbabwean civil society groups and human rights defenders who criticize the government at international forums and prohibits them from seeking external avenues for accountability for rights violations.

In its ruling, the court stated that the drastic penalties prescribed under section 22A(3) of the act, which include life imprisonment, the death penalty, termination of citizenship, and suspensions from voting and holding public office, infringed on various sections of the Zimbabwean Constitution.

Media Alliance of Zimbabwe and Zenzele Ndebele, a private citizen, who brought the case before the court, argued that section 22A(3) and other provisions had high potential for abuse and misuse. They contended that the sections had the effect of silencing dissenting voices and were therefore unfair, unnecessary, and unreasonable in a democratic society. They also said that the law did not sufficiently define what constituted “willfully injuring the sovereignty and national interest of Zimbabwe.”

When President Mnangagwa signed the bill into law, domestic and international human rights and civil society organizations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch, expressed concern that the law would further threaten and erode freedoms of expression and association in the country. Several other groups signed a statement calling for the repeal of the law, stating that it carried provisions “not necessary or justifiable in a democratic society.”

While striking down sections of the law as unconstitutional is a positive step, the Zimbabwe government should repeal the draconian Patriotic Act altogether, as it contains overly broad and vaguely defined provisions, such as those criminalizing participation in meetings “with the intention of promoting calls for economic sanctions against the country.” Such provisions amount to serious violations of the fundamental human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association protected under international human rights law.

Click to expand Image The High Court in N'Djamena, Chad, December 5, 2022. © 2022 Denis Sassou Gueipeur/AFP via Getty Images

Last week marked three months since Olivier Monodji, editor of Le Pays and a correspondent for Radio France Internationale, and Mahamat Saleh Alhissein, a reporter with state broadcaster Télé Tchad, were arrested in Chad. There are other co-accused in their case. Prosecutors alleged the journalists colluded with the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group present in Central Africa and the Sahel, and charged them with espionage, conspiracy, and endangering state security.

Part of the evidence in the case are documents that were allegedly translated from French to Arabic by Alhissein and an article by Monodji in Le Pays on the opening of a Russian cultural center.

The journalists appear to have been targeted for their perceived links to the Wagner Group, whose dealings in Chad are a sensitive topic. In 2023, media reported evidence of a plot by the mercenary group against the Chadian government. The group is actively supporting various armed groups in nearly all the surrounding countries, and Human Rights Watch has reported on how Russians thought to be from the Wagner Group have been instrumental in the authoritarian crackdown in the neighboring Central African Republic.

This week, a judge who has been investigating the case for two months reclassified the charges under article 95 of Chad’s Penal Code, which relates to sharing intelligence with agents of a foreign power and carries a sentence of one to five years’ imprisonment, and referred the accused for trial. Their detention was extended however, despite the dismissal of the more serious conspiracy and security charges. Their continued detention goes against international human rights law, which provides that defendants in general should not be held in pretrial detention, and underscores a disturbing trend toward repression. 

In the run-up to the 2024 elections, authorities targeted media houses, civil society, and opposition voices. Authorities have revoked the licenses of media outlets, banned reporting on political rallies, shut down the internet, suspended media platforms, and made legal threats to silence dissent. Succès Masra, the former prime minister and leader of Chad’s main opposition party, has been detained for nearly one month. He is accused of inciting hatred and violence through social media posts. 

Chad has been especially volatile since the death of former President Idriss Déby Itno, father of current President Mahamat Idriss Déby, in 2021, which ushered in a transitional period marked by violence, unrest, and bloodshed. Just months before the 2024 elections, a main political opponent was killed during an attack in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital.

However, none of this context justifies the prolonged detention of the journalists, which would require individualized evidence of necessity and lawful purpose. The Chadian government should uphold its commitment to due process by ensuring the men are released and guaranteed a fair trial. 

Click to expand Image A Canada (L) and an Alberta flag in Kananaskis, Alberta, June 2, 2025.   © 2025 Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP Photo

(Ottawa) – G7 leaders should commit to taking concrete actions to halt Israeli atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory at their upcoming summit, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to G7 leaders.

Leaders of the G7 will be gathering in Kananaskis, Alberta from June 15-17, 2025, for the Leaders’ Summit hosted by Canada. The summit takes place in the context of ongoing hostilities and Israel’s unlawful blockade of Gaza, where the world’s foremost experts on food security warn that there’s a high risk of imminent famine for the entire civilian population. 

“The double standards of many G7 nations have, over many months, effectively given Israel a green light to escalate its destruction of Gaza and the killing, starvation, and forced displacement of its people,” said Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch. “While some states have taken important steps to review bilateral agreements and sanction Israeli officials, much more significant action is needed to stop Israeli authorities from destroying the rest of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and ethnically cleansing the entire area.”

Human Rights Watch has documented grave abuses by Israeli authorities and forces during the hostilities in Gaza and in the region, from war crimes, to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, including extermination and forcible displacement, and acts of genocide. Human Rights Watch has also documented Israeli authorities’ crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians, and war crimes and crimes against humanity by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during and after the October 7 attacks. 

Israeli authorities have also flouted three binding orders by the International Court of Justice to take steps to prevent genocide in a case brought by South Africa alleging that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention of 1948.

International Criminal Court (ICC) judges issued warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, as well as for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (known as Mohammed Deif), commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

On May 30, the United Nations described Gaza as “one of the most obstructed aid operations, not only in the world today, but in recent history” and “the hungriest place on Earth.” In the West Bank, Israeli forces have ratcheted up their repression, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in the northern West Bank at a scale not seen there since 1967. Recent sanctions by states including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia against Israeli officials for their facilitation of settler violence represents an important step, but much more is needed. 

In the letter addressed to G7 leaders, Human Rights Watch urged governments to use the summit as an opportunity to focus on concrete, time-bound measures to ensure their enforcement and to end decades of impunity for egregious violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. These measures include adopting further targeted sanctions against Israeli officials responsible for serious abuses; suspending all arms transfers to Israel; banning all trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements; review and consider suspending bilateral agreements with Israel; and unequivocally supporting the ICC.

“The G7 Summit risks becoming an exercise in empty rhetoric, unless leaders attending commit to concrete actions to stop Israel’s atrocity crimes and hold those responsible to account,” said Stagno.

Click to expand Image Photo montage of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium and youth in Japan training and playing popular sports. © 2019 imagenavi/Aflo; 2005 Doable/a.collectionRF/amanaimages; 2020 Human Rights Watch; 2015 Satoru Kobayashi/a.collectionRF/amanaimages; 2016 RYO/amanaimages; Trevor Williams/Getty Images; 2020 Human Rights Watch; 2016 Matsuo/Aflo; AdobeStock

Four years after hosting the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Japan is finally taking action to protect athletes from abuse in sport. This month, the Japanese National Diet passed a revision to the Basic Act on Sport (2011), requiring the national and local governments to adopt measures against any form of physical or sexual abuse, and against verbal and other abuse when committed by coaches and others in positions of power.

Human Rights Watch released a report in 2020 documenting Japan’s use of corporal punishment in sport, exposing systemic child abuse in sports training from school level up to elite institutions. We called for a ban on all forms of abuse against child athletes in organized sport. Soon after, we launched #AthletesAgainstAbuse with partner organizations, an international campaign to stop abuse in sports. 

These reforms remain desperately needed. This April, a high school baseball coach was punished for slapping players. And in February, a junior high school kendo coach was disciplined for hitting students with a shinai (kendo stick) and refusing to allow an ill student to drink water during summer practice. 

Years of courageous leadership from Japanese athletes, alongside domestic and international pressure, have helped drive the momentum for legal reform. 

In August 2020, the International Olympic Committee told the Japanese Olympic Committee to end abuse and harassment in Japanese sports. In April 2023, six major Japanese sport’s governing bodies launched the “No! Sports Harassment” campaign to raise awareness about the issue. 

Other notable interventions include the Japan Sports Agency (JSA), a national agency responsible for promoting sports in Japan publishing a list of abuse-reporting hotlines for each sport organization, and the Japan Sport Association, a national umbrella organization for sport, introducing a disciplinary code for coaches. The JSA also now plans to establish guidelines for disciplinary actions against external school coaches. 

The Basic Act on Sport amendment could mark a turning point in ending the tradition of using physical violence as a coaching technique. But Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba should not stop there. To achieve the goal of addressing abuse in sports, he should also establish an independent body tasked solely with reporting and addressing child abuse in sport. This will be an invaluable addition if Japan wants to get serious about ending the abuse of its athletes.

Click to expand Image Opening Ceremony of the 113th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, June 2, 2025.  © 2025 Violaine Martin / OIT

(Geneva) – The agreement by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on June 13, 2025, to develop binding global standards on decent work in the “platform economy,” or gig work, is a positive breakthrough, Human Rights Watch said today. A majority of ILO member states and the workers’ delegates backed the decision at the International Labour Conference, an annual meeting that sets international labor standards and agreements on ILO policy. Employer delegates and some government delegates, including from Switzerland, India, and the United States, opposed the move.

“It’s a major win that the ILO is advancing binding standards for platform work,” said Lena Simet, senior economic justice researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “Gig workers long have been denied their rights. Global minimum standards could be a game changer, but only if they cover all workers and adequately address key issues like low and unpredictable pay, widespread misclassification, and opaque algorithms that control workers without accountability.”

Weak national laws allow companies to misclassify platform workers as self-employed or independent contractors, despite the nature of their work and the degree of control exercised by companies often meeting the criteria for employee status. This leaves gig workers with limited, if any, labor protections.  

Negotiations, which took place between June 2 and 12, and were based on a report prepared by the ILO focused on types and scope of standards as well as how to define both these workers and their companies. The negotiations revealed deep divisions on key elements that will ultimately determine the strength and impact of the standards, which are expected to take the form of a binding treaty and accompanying guidance.

A joint statement by 33 organizations—including Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and Global Social Justice—outlines crucial areas the standards should cover. 

The definitions of what constitutes a digital labor platform and who qualifies as a platform worker will be critical, as a narrow scope would exclude millions of workers. 

Platform workers often spend 30 to 40 percent of their pay from apps on work-related expenses like fuel, phone plans, or vehicle maintenance. Those classified as self-employed also carry additional expenses, including tax and social security contributions that would otherwise be covered by employers. A recent Human Rights Watch report found that when accounting for these expenses, platform workers’ wages in the US fall far below a living wage.

In many countries, these workers are also excluded from social security systems, leaving them without protection in the event of work-related accidents, illness, or unemployment. 

Platform companies often use algorithmic systems that affect working conditions, such as allocation of work, reduction of pay, other forms of discipline, and firing of workers. These systems are often opaque, error-prone, and discriminatory, with little remedy to challenge automated decisions.

Some negotiators at the June meeting repeatedly proposed use of the phrase “in accordance with national law and practice.” Such language in the final documents would allow national frameworks to override intended protections, Human Rights Watch said.  

The final round of negotiations will take place at the 2026 International Labour Conference. Topics on the table will include social security, occupational health and safety, violence and harassment, details on renumeration, algorithmic management, data privacy, and steps to address worker misclassification.

The new standards should guarantee just and favorable conditions of work for all platform workers, regardless of classification or employment status, and should also address the widespread misclassification of workers, Human Rights Watch said.

Platform workers should have a major role in the negotiations. Because these workers are often denied the right to organize and bargain collectively, they are rarely recognized as unions, and as a result, some were also excluded from the initial negotiation process.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Simet said. “The ILO should close the legal loopholes that many companies exploit while increasing their profits and market shares. Anything less would be a missed opportunity to create a global foundation for just and fair conditions of work in the digital economy.”

(Stockholm, June 13, 2025) – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen should use Denmark’s upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to champion human rights, the rule of law, and accountability across the EU and beyond, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Danish government.

Denmark will hold the rotating EU presidency from July to December 2025, a pivotal period for the protection of EU values amid democratic backsliding within the bloc and ongoing crises at Europe’s borders and further afield.

“Denmark has a real opportunity to show principled leadership at a time when some EU governments are undermining fundamental rights and democratic safeguards,” said Måns Molander, Nordic director at Human Rights Watch. “This presidency should be defined by bold, concrete action to uphold the rule of law and protect people’s rights, both within Europe and globally.”

Human Rights Watch urged Denmark to take a firm stance on Hungary’s systemic rule-of-law violations and help advance the stalled article 7 proceedings against Hungary. Denmark should also press for a rights-respecting EU migration policy, defend corporate accountability measures, and promote justice and accountability for serious international crimes, including in Ukraine and Gaza.

“EU credibility as a defender of rights depends on leaders willing to act when those rights are under threat,” Molander said. “Denmark should lead by example.”

Click to expand Image An Afghan woman walks among Taliban soldiers at a checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 6, 2023.  © 2023 Ali Khara/Reuters

The United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, reiterated in his latest report his call for states to establish a comprehensive mechanism to advance accountability in Afghanistan for grave past and ongoing rights abuses, particularly against women and girls.

Bennett documents the many forms of discrimination that women and girls in Afghanistan face and their difficulty accessing justice and protection. He also notes how the “justice” system itself is being used to oppress and silence women and girls, rather than protect them.

Among his recommendations for advancing justice, Bennett calls upon states to establish an independent accountability mechanism with a comprehensive mandate to collect and preserve evidence of grave abuses and international crimes, including gender persecution, and prepare case files to support prosecutions of those responsible.

A dedicated accountability mechanism could be a key tool in addressing the impunity that has emboldened the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls and wider rights crackdown. It could support access to justice including through ongoing and future efforts at the International Criminal Court, the initiative under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women at the International Court of Justice, and through universal or other forms of jurisdiction to hold perpetrators of abuses to account. 

While justice for gender crimes should be a priority for an Afghanistan accountability mechanism, Bennett aligns with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a cross-regional group of countries, and a coalition of Afghan and international rights groups in insisting that any such mechanism should have a comprehensive mandate, able to address both past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan. As the coalition notes, genuine justice for victims of rights abuses should not be undermined by double standards or cherry-picking in investigations and prosecutions.

Given the growing consensus on the need for an Afghanistan accountability mechanism, there is hope that the European Union will move to propose such a mechanism when it presents its annual resolution on Afghanistan in September. When the UN Human Rights Council meets to discuss the report next week, states from all regional groups should express their support.

Click to expand Image © 2025 Doris Miranda for Human Rights Watch

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued a landmark ruling holding Guatemala accountable for violating the rights of Fátima, a 13-year-old girl who was forced to continue a pregnancy resulting from rape and become a mother when she was still a child herself. This decision highlights the need for Guatemala to take action to prevent sexual violence and ensure that survivors, especially girls, receive the support and justice they deserve.

The committee found that Guatemala’s failure to investigate the multiple rapes suffered by Fátima, and to prosecute the perpetrator (a teacher and public official), constituted a violation of Fátima’s rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee concluded that her right to a life with dignity was harmed due to the impact of pregnancy resulting from rape on Fatima’s mental, physical, and social health, along with the trajectory of her entire life. The committee emphasized that forcing Fátima to carry the pregnancy against her will subjected her to treatment akin to torture and put her life at risk.

The committee noted that Fátima lacked effective recourse due to the government’s failure to provide access to comprehensive sexuality education and abortion. While Guatemala’s legal framework permits therapeutic abortion—an option in cases where there is a risk to the life of the pregnant person—girls are often not informed about their right to access this care, effectively denying them necessary support.

Fátima’s case reflects a broader pattern of sexual violence as a pervasive and systemic issue in Guatemala. Between 2018 and 2024, 14,696 girls under 14 gave birth and became mothers, in many cases against their will. Research by Human Rights Watch shows that girls who have experienced sexual violence in Guatemala are often pushed out of education, struggle to access health care and social security, and face enormous barriers to justice. These obstacles indicate that Guatemala lacks a gender-sensitive and child-centered approach to preventing and responding to sexual violence. Indigenous girls and deaf girls face additional challenges due to language barriers.

This ruling represents a critical step in addressing the rights of women and girls in Guatemala and is the result of years of advocacy by the Niñas, No Madres (Girls, Not Mothers) movement.

Guatemala needs comprehensive reforms to better prevent sexual violence, including against girls, and to guarantee that girls have full access to health care, education, social security, and justice, including adequate reparations.

Click to expand Image Pedestrians walk past the Federal High Court building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 1, 2011. © 2011 AP Photo

Ethiopian authorities have been detaining the renowned journalist Tesfalem Woldeyes since Sunday on allegations of “dissemination false information,” despite a court order to release him on bail. Tesfalem is editor-in-chief of the independent media outlet Ethiopia Insider and has faced repeated harassment by the authorities.  

The media reported that a plainclothes intelligence official arrested Tesfalem on June 8 at a hotel near a soccer stadium in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital. Dozens of fans were detained at the same time.

On June 10, Tesfalem appeared before a first instance court in the capital. The court ordered his release on bail, but the police argued they needed more time to investigate and have held him in a crowded police cell since. On June 11, the high court upheld the lower court’s decision, and on June 12, the cassation court rejected the police’s appeal.

Ethiopia’s police have long flouted court orders to release someone on bail, particularly when it comes to high-profile detainees. 

The police also have a notorious reputation for investigating journalists under provisions of Ethiopia’s 2020 Hate Speech and Disinformation Prevention and Suppression Proclamation. The law contains an overbroad definition of “disinformation,” providing the authorities with excessive discretion to declare unpopular or controversial opinions “false.”

Throughout his career, Tesfalem has been targeted for his independent work, spending over a year in detention in 2014 on spurious terrorism charges during broader clampdowns on the media and social media groups. He was again briefly detained in 2021 after attending an ethnic Oromo cultural festival and reposting about protests at the event calling for the release of Oromo political detainees. 

Over the past year, the Ethiopian authorities have tightened the screws on what remains of civic and media space in the country, intimidating journalists and rights activists, including with enhanced surveillance, as well as suspending key human rights organizations and raiding a key independent media outlet. 

Ethiopia’s donors and partners need to call out this blatant harassment, urge Tesfalem’s immediate release, and press the government to end its clampdown on independent voices.

Click to expand Image Migrant workers at a construction site amid scorching heat in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on June 16, 2022. © 2022 FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

In March 2025, Muhammad Arshad, a Pakistani migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, fell to his death while working on the construction of Al Khobar’s Aramco Stadium, a 2034 FIFA World Cup and 2027 Asian Football Confederation Cup facility. Arshad’s death and the loss of his income leaves his family, including three sons under age eight, without their sole line of support.

As we mark World Day Against Child Labor, FIFA’s awarding of mega-sporting events to Saudi Arabia masks a harsh reality true for many families like Arshad’s: When migrant workers die in Saudi Arabia, they can no longer send money home. This and a lack of compensation for deaths can lead to severe economic crises for families.

Saudi Arabia’s migrant workers, who largely come from South Asia and Africa, face disability, illness, death, and other labor abuses like wage theft while constructing FIFA facilities. Human Rights Watch has found that Saudi Arabia does not adequately protect migrant workers against abuses including forced labor, exorbitant recruitment fees, rampant wage theft, and horrific deaths. The majority of deaths are attributed to “natural causes,” a euphemism that masks extreme heat exposure and dangerous worksite conditions and makes families ineligible for compensation.

The loss of a breadwinner compels families to make hard choices, such as taking children out of classrooms and sending them to work. Though some governments of migrants’ countries of origin provide critical assistance such as scholarships to children of deceased workers, it is often not enough. 

A Bangladeshi worker’s widow told Human Rights Watch: “To make ends meet, I have put my 14-year-old son to work, and the little money he earns is used for our daily expenses.”

The pattern is chillingly familiar. Thousands of unexplained worker deaths ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar put migrant workers’ children at risk. Though FIFA concluded it “has a responsibility” to compensate families of those deceased workers, they are still waiting.

FIFA needs to take steps to uphold its human rights obligations and minimize risks that migrant workers’ children will be driven into child labor. FIFA should use its leverage for significantly stronger worker protections to prevent worker deaths in Saudi Arabia and beyond. It should call on the Saudi government to ensure that all worker deaths are properly investigated and certified. Finally, FIFA should compensate families of workers who died delivering World Cup infrastructure and provide scholarships for their children.

Click to expand Image The Delegation of the European Union to China hosted a reception to mark the 50th anniversary of EU-China relations and to celebrate Europe Day, May 6, 2025. © 2025 European Union

This year marks some big numbers for the European Union-China relationship: it is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations and the 40th iteration of the annual human rights dialogue, scheduled in Brussels on June 13. However, the number is closer to zero when assessing the progress that these dialogues have delivered for human rights in China.

Human Rights Watch, in a May 15 submission to the EU, reiterated its regret that the EU continues to hold a human rights dialogue with China. Along with other rights organizations, Human Rights Watch has repeatedly criticized the box-ticking nature of the exercise, in which criticism behind closed doors yields no concrete improvements.

For example, despite raising their cases for years, the EU has been unable to obtain the release of Gui Minhai, a Swedish bookseller whom Beijing arbitrarily arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison, or to receive a sign of life from Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur scholar and Sakharov Prize laureate who was sentenced to life in prison for his peaceful activism and has been denied family visits since 2017.

These cases are emblematic of the EU’s failure to meaningfully address Beijing’s repression, which has reached new peaks under Xi Jinping’s rule, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

Notably, a landmark 2022 report on Xinjiang by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found Beijing’s abusive policies against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims may amount to “international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” The EU and its member states should press the Chinese government to allow unrestricted access to the UN human rights office for a follow-up visit.

Of course, pressuring the Chinese government for human rights improvements is difficult. But by demoting human rights to a lower-level and private dialogue, the EU and its member states risk complicity in Beijing’s attempts to marginalize and delegitimize human rights. Instead, the EU should be incorporating human rights across all areas of engagement with China, particularly at high-level meetings, to break the artificial silos created by separately addressing unfair trade practices, security concerns, foreign interference, and economic security and sovereignty.

EU leaders should more forcefully raise human rights concerns during the upcoming summit and strategic dialogue, and lay out concrete consequences should Beijing fail to rein in its repression. Not doing so will be at the expense of all people in China

Click to expand Image A woman looks at a ballot paper during the Burundian legislative elections in Giheta Commune of Gitega Province in Burundi, June 5, 2025 © 2025 REUTERS/Evrard Ngendakumana

(Nairobi) – Legislative and local elections in Burundi on June 5, 2025, took place in a context of severely restricted free speech and political space, Human Rights Watch said today. 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (Commission électorale nationale indépendante, CENI) announced on June 11 during a press conference that the ruling party had won 96.5 percent of votes and all elected national assembly seats. The ruling party also won almost every seat in the commune-level election. Ruling party officials and youths intimidated, harassed, and threatened the population and censored media coverage to secure a landslide victory. 

“Burundians voted in an atmosphere devoid of genuine political competition as the ruling party further consolidated power,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Against a backdrop of growing discontent over a deepening economic crisis and systemic human rights failings, the ruling party took no chances in the elections.”

The National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, CNDD–FDD), in power since 2005, has sought to dismantle all meaningful opposition, including from its main rival, the National Congress for Freedom (Congrès national pour la liberté, CNL). Several opposition parties, including the CNL, the Patriots’ Council (Conseil des Patriotes, CDP), and the Union for National Progress (Union pour le progrès national, UPRONA) denounced irregularities in the vote. Senatorial and further local elections are scheduled for July 23 and August 25, respectively, and the next presidential polls will be in 2027.

In the days following the vote, Human Rights Watch spoke with local activists, journalists, private citizens, and a member of the ruling party’s youth league – the Imbonerakure – who spoke of intimidation and irregularities in both the lead-up to the election and during the voting.

Media reports and witness accounts indicate that the voting on June 5 was overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling party. “The Imbonerakure were in front of the polling station telling people to vote for the ruling party,” said a voter in the town of Bururi. “All the workers at the polling station were members of the ruling party. The head of the polling station himself told me to vote for the ruling party.” 

People interviewed in Bujumbura, the country’s largest city, Cibitoke, and Rumonge described similar scenes at their polling places. A Burundian civil society organization reported the same patterns in Bubanza, Gitega, Makamba, and Ngozi. “We were told to do everything necessary to make sure that people only voted for the CNDD-FDD,” the Imbonerakure member said. 

Opposition parties and witnesses said that opposition party representatives, journalists, and observers were prevented from entering polling places, including when votes were being counted. 

In several communes (municipalities), the number of votes cast reportedly exceeded the number of registered voters. Media and witnesses also reported ballot stuffing and the selective distribution of voter cards, excluding opposition members from voting.

A coalition of radio stations, television channels, and print or online media outlets coordinated coverage of the elections, reportedly funded by the Ministry of Communication, Information Technology and Media, and all content produced had to be submitted to a central editorial team, which censored reports that did not align with the official narrative, media reported. A journalist told Human Rights Watch that officials of the electoral body told the media “not to talk about irregularities.”

In December, the electoral commission barred opposition candidates, including members of the opposition Burundi for All (Burundi Bwa Bose in Kirundi) coalition and the CNL, from contesting the June elections, effectively sidelining major opposition voices. Some were able to appeal the decision at the Constitutional Court, but presidential runner-up and former leader of the CNL, Agathon Rwasa, was among those still barred from running.

In January 2024, the interior minister accused the CNL of collaborating with a terrorist organization, after which the party’s general assembly voted to remove Rwasa from leadership. In April 2024, Burundi adopted a new electoral code that significantly raised candidate registration fees and imposed a two-year waiting period for those leaving political parties before they can run again, effectively ensuring that Rwasa would not be eligible.

The authorities, aided by the Imbonerakure, forced the population to register to vote in late 2024, according to media reports and witness accounts. “The population wanted to show that they don’t see the point in this election, and tried to boycott the registration process,” said an observer in Cibitoke. “They were forced [to register], prevented from accessing markets, healthcare centers, administrative services or going to the fields. The Imbonerakure were everywhere to intimidate people.”

The African Union deployed an observation mission and issued a preliminary report on June 7 praising the “peaceful” conduct of Burundi’s legislative and communal elections. It also praised high voter turnout, the “climate of freedom and transparency,” and media coverage. This stands in stark contrast to the AU’s own normative framework on democracy, elections, and human rights, which emphasizes credible, inclusive, and transparent electoral processes. The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the Economic Community of Central African States also deployed observer missions. The Catholic Church, which has criticized previous elections, deployed observers but some were turned away from polling places.

General elections in May 2020 took place in a highly repressive environment, marred by allegations of irregularities. Throughout the pre-election period, Imbonerakure members committed widespread abuses, especially against people perceived to be against the ruling party, including killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, beatings, extortion, and intimidation. 

Burundians have told Human Rights Watch that they feel growing frustration at the ruling party’s governance, at a time when the population is facing a 40 percent annual inflation rate, chronic shortages, significant discrepancies between official and unofficial exchange rates, limited foreign currency reserves, and a fuel crisis that has crippled transport for years. The escalating conflict in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which has jeopardized cross-border trade and prompted the arrival of over 70,000 refugees and asylum seekers since January 2025, as well as cuts in donor funding have further compounded the situation.

In February, Burundian authorities expelled the director and security officer of the United Nations World Food Programme from the country, after they reportedly advised staff to stock up on essential goods. Civil society and opposition figures continue to report ongoing harassment, extortion, arbitrary detention, and beatings by the Imbonerakure and the authorities as the government remains deeply hostile to perceived criticism. 

Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Burundi is a party, states, “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity … [t]o vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.”

“Burundi’s democracy has been hollowed out, with a ruling party unaccountable to its people and unwilling to tolerate dissent, even as economic desperation grows,” de Montjoye said. “Without credible opposition, this election only further entrenches authoritarian rule and pushes Burundians further into a deeply rooted governance crisis.”